Sinn Fein and
Alliance were the big winners in Belfast in 2011, each picking up
two additional seats. At sixteen seats Sinn Fein is the largest
party on the council, a position they had lost to the DUP in 2005.
They picked up new seats in Pottinger, Balmoral, and Castle but
lost a seat to the SDLP in Lower Falls, losing their exclusive
representation for that area. The Alliance gains both came at the
expense of the UUP, who also lost seats to the DUP and Sinn Fein.
Alliance also retained the balance of power on the council with
six seats; the nationalist and unionist blocs standing at 24 seats
and 21 seats respectively.

* A change in the
electoral law in 2001 made it impossible for candidates to
describe themselves as "Independent Unionists". This new
legislation caught the UDP and Greens unaware, so the
Independent candidates in the 2001 election included all of
these categories. The only succesful Independent candidate was
in fact a member of the UDP. Unsuccessful candidates included
one backed by the Socialist Environmental Alliance (Barbara
Muldoon in Laganside).

This
page has been developed with the support of a project
grant from the New Initiatives Fund of the Electoral
Commission. However, any views expressed on this page or,
in particular, other pages of this website are those of
the author and not necessarily shared by The Electoral
Commission.

Nicholas
Whyte, 12 August 1998; last updated 27 July 2011 by Conal Kelly.